Tuesday, 6 December 2011

Nude glitter stamping... and what I'm listening to right now.

Hello friends, how are you tonight? 

I'm sat here listening to British recording artist called Daley and editing my pictures. Doesn't sound like much? Well, simple things please me. Like turning the television off and putting some music on the iPhone. Or listening to a CD. Yeah, a real CD. Or even finding an old cassette tape (hands up if you still have one of THOSE!)  Anyway, I'm going to pop the YouTube video of this guy at the bottom of my post so you can enjoy the evening with me.

Right, nail time!

 Here is The Face Shop's Number BR802 with Peripera's P040 (glitter) and leaves from plate BM208. I did this last night.

Don't you hate it when you do your best to stamp a nice, clear image...only for your cruddy top coat brush to drag and streak it?

I have a few tips for you when you are stamping (if you don't already do these things).
1. To minimise streaking, put a put a dollop of polish on the brush and float it down over your nail. DON'T LET THE BRUSH TOUCH YOUR NAIL.

2. To make it easy to remove a messy image without ruining your base polish, make sure you use a top coat on your base colour BEFORE stamping over it.

3. Have a cotton bud and cotton wipe readily soaked in acetone or polish remover to clean your stamper or remove part of an image you don't want, before putting it on the nail.  You can also use a small brush dipped in solution to do this.

These tips are in hindsight...had I thought about it before, the manicure would have been tidier.

You could also change this design by turning it into a french manicure. Start with clear base nail bed, and use the colour, glitter and stamping on the tips. For effect, you cour outline the 'smile line' with some...

...metal balls (if you want too see this old manicure, click here)

By the way, one of you lovely ladies made me think today. 
Do you want to see more tutorials (step-by-step pictures) when I do stamping, or are you happy for me to just tell you what I did? A lot of you ladies are pretty proficient in your stamping already, but what about you readers who don't have blogs or are new to nail art stamping?

Have a listen to Daley and let me know in the comments box.

xx

Monday, 5 December 2011

GIVEAWAY WINNERS...

WOWWW.

Can I just say how very, very happy I am right now? Thank you so much for your entries into my giveaway. A lot of you spent time blogging, putting pictures up and commenting and I really do appreciate it.  I have a lot new readers now and I'm hoping that you have been and will continue to enjoy my posts.

Do you want me to stop gassing and give you the results?

Okay then!

Prize number one:

Goes to...
Congratulations Alexa1202!



Prize number two:
Goes to...
Congratulations Miha.ela!

Both winners have been emailed today at the addresses that they have provided. They have 48 hours to reply to me. Failure to reply within this time will result in another winner being drawn.

For those of you who didn't win, please don't be too disappointed. This is not my first giveaway and it won't be my last.

Thank you ALL for taking part and for the sweet comments that I could not post due to email addresses being in them.

xx


Sunday, 4 December 2011

Milani Neon Pink and a little tutorial

Hey friends.

I'm taking a little break from checking giveaway entries to post a manicure that I did prior to the 31 Day Manicure Challenge.  

If you follow me on Twitter (click my button >>), you will recognise this manicure - it's my twitter icon.


I started doing this when it suddenly occurred to me that I should actually do a tutorial just in case anyone was interested. 

Ready?
Okay!

1. Start with completely dry nails in the colour of your choice. Tape some thin strips of tape in random places on the nails you want to accent.

2. Paint over the tape and let it dry completely.

3. Choose your stamping image - I chose the top left full image on plate M60 bought from Bornprettystore. This plate was actually in the sale and was a little over $2...you KNOW I love a good discount :-p

4. Use white stamping polish to stamp on the image. This was easy to do, because the images on the plate were clean cut and deep. As a result, I was able to get the whole image to transfer onto the stamp in one attempt.

5. When the polish is completely dry, SLOWLY remove the tape and add some random lines of glitter.

6. Slap on your favourite top-coat and you are good to go!

I hope you like it.

xx

Saturday, 3 December 2011

Don't worry!!

Hey everyone. 

This is just a quick post to let those of you who have been emailing me, I HAVEN'T forgotten about the giveaway results. It's been two days since it closed...I've got a lot of entries to get through.

I will be announcing the winners next week.

Thanks for your patience.

Thursday, 1 December 2011

31 Day Manicure Challenge Day 31 - 'Recreate your favourite challenge'

I'm back again with a remix of day 9's 'Rainbow nails', courtesy of Barry M's Croc Nails...

This is a new release and although it has been available on the Barry M website for a while, it took ages to reach the shops.

This polish takes about three minutes to reach full cracking potential. What is different with this is that unlike the Instant Nail Effects crackle, the consistency is very thin and it dries with a shine, not matte. The directions are to apply it to nail polish that is touch dry but still tacky, add a thin layer of the croc and then wait...

Underneath I am wearing a sponged rainbow :)

I actually really like this polish. Much, more than the crackle. I actually spied the Kelier Crack Polish last year some time in several reviews for Bornprettystore, but they don't sell it anymore.  I MISSED OUT :(

 I guess it's not everyone's taste, but it definitely is mine. Well done Barry!

Okay, that concludes the 31 day challenge. It's been hard at times, but I have enjoyed it no end. I hope you've enjoyed my installments...
xx

31 Day Manicure Challenge Day 30 - 'Nails inspired by a tutorial'

Hellooooo!

I had the best intentions to blog last night but in all honesty, by the time I had done the nails, I just wanted my bed.  To make up for the lack of posting AND to ensure that the challenge lasted 31 and not 32 days, I have two posts for you!

Day 30 nails:



Inspired by this manicure!


More pictures:





I used LOTS of colours and honestly don't want to load this post up with them. If you really want to get specific, just ask me and I'll put it in the comments :) Oh, and don't worry about the staining on my nail beds. I'll explain another day.